Salvation for Rejects

Isaiah 56:1-8
Halifax: 20 February 2011

Introduction:
Today, we come to Isaiah 56.
- Today, I want to skip an introduction and just jump right into our text…
- I want you to see what the LORD has to say to us here in this marvellous prophecy.

I. First, there is a command given to you—a command with a reason attached to

it.
- The command is right at the beginning—in verse 1.
- Isa 56:1: “Thus says the LORD, ‘Keep justice and do righteousness!’”

- And then the reason is given, also in verse 1:

- Isa 56:1 “For My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.”
- Let’s look at each of these—
- You can see that the command is essentially a call to obedience…
- We will look at the command in just a minute…but…

A. I want to begin with the reason…

1. The LORD says we are to obey because His salvation is about to come and His
righteousness is about to revealed.
- What is He talking about?

a. Well of course we have to look at this as having been spoken in Isaiah’s day.
- And Isaiah has been prophesying about this coming salvation and
righteousness all along the way in His prophecy.
- Back in chapter 46, verse 12, the Lord declared that His people were
far from righteousness,
- But then in verse 13—Isaiah 46 verse 13—He said that He would
bring righteousness to them!
- Isa 46:13 I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and
my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for
Israel my glory.
- It is this salvation and righteousness to which He refers here in chapter
56, verse 1 as the reason they ought to keep justice and do
righteousness.

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 b. And that salvation and righteousness is the salvation and righteousness that
Jesus Christ, the one Isaiah calls the suffering servant, was going to bring!
- The covenant people of Judah and Israel had been rejected when Isaiah
penned these words.
- They were going to be vomited out of the land just like the Canaanites
had been before them—on account of their wickedness!

- Only, there was one great difference between them and the Canaanites.
- And that was that God had promised that He would bring salvation and
righteousness into the world through them.
- Way back, He had promised this to Abraham,
- And then He kept renewing the promise through the ages with
Jacob and Moses and David and Elijah and all the prophets who
spoke for Him.

c. And through Isaiah, this coming salvation and righteousness has been made
very clear.
- All along the way He has made it clear that this salvation and
righteousness will come through a person, the Son of God.
- A Son will be given and all the nations will come to Him for life.
- And recently, the faithful prophet has shown us how this salvation and
righteousness will be procured by Him.
- In chapter 53, He told us that the Son of God would make His soul
and offering for the sins of His people.
- That He would suffer the curse that was due to them for their
sins in order that they might be pardoned—
- completely pardoned even though they were rejects!

2. What glorious news!

a. The Lord was going to take these extreme measures for His sinful, guilty,
rejected people…
- so that they would no longer be sinful, guilty, and rejected,
- but rather righteous and pardoned and accepted!

b. There was certain hope for them in this coming Saviour!

- How God’s righteousness would be revealed in this way!
- He is a God so righteous that the Son of God had to bear the eternal
curse so they could be saved!
- And the LORD was actually going to do this!
- This salvation was coming!
- This magnificent righteousness was going to be revealed!

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B. And now let’s take a look at the command that was given in view of this coming
righteousness and salvation.
1. It was a command, simply, “to keep justice and do righteousness.”
a. This is the same message that John the Baptist preached when he announced
that Jesus was coming!
- You know, he went around preaching,
- “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”
- And then when Jesus came, He had the same message.
- Matthew 4:17, it says: “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say,
Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
- The kingdom that was at hand was the kingdom of righteousness and
salvation that Jesus was establishing by the cross.
- And because the kingdom was coming, they were to keep justice
and do righteousness.

b. But why were they supposed to repent and keep justice and righteousness
before Jesus came?
- If He was bringing righteousness, why should they do righteousness?
- It was because this was is the way to show that you are waiting for Him.
- This is what you do if you see that you are a sinner and that God
brings righteousness through Jesus…
- You repent of your sin and you start doing righteousness.
- You can’t help it
- You are seeking righteousness from Him, and so you turn from
your old ways and start to do the will of God.

- And this is what every sinner who learns of the salvation and the
righteousness that Jesus brought into the world does as soon as He turns to
Jesus for that salvation…
- He repents of his sin and starts to do righteousness…
- Not as a way of trying to manufacture his own righteousness
before God, but in response to the promise of the righteousness
that God has provided for him in Christ.
- You see, there are two types of righteousness…
- The righteousness that Jesus gives is the righteousness that we from
Him as a our representative…
- It is the righteousness that He obtained for the whole church by His
obedience and suffering on the cross.

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 - The kingdom of God was full of sin and defilement and He, by His
work, made the whole kingdom acceptable to God.

- And when you see that, you don’t dare to presume that you could make
yourself acceptable to God by your own efforts at obedience…
- But as soon as you realise that God has provided this righteousness for
His kingdom through Christ and you start to want this,
- You very naturally look to God in faith for it…
- And in doing that, you very naturally turn away from your old
sinful ways and start to do justice and righteousness.

- In other words, when you come looking for the righteousness that
God has provided through Christ, given apart from works of
righteousness that you do,
- You always begin to do righteousness.

c. If you look carefully, you can see that this is exactly what Isaiah is talking
about in our text.
1) Isaiah does not say, “Keep justice and do righteousness in order that you
may be saved and be righteous in my sight.”
- It is not that they could make themselves righteous!
- How could they?
- They were guilty sinners who had been rejected as far as they
were concerned.
- God was not asking them to procure their own righteousness.

2) He was calling them to prepare for the coming of the salvation and the
righteousness that He had promised to give them!
- They were to repent of their sin and start living for the LORD because
He had promised to provide salvation and righteousness for them.
- because, as He says,
- “My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness is about to be
revealed.”
- How discouraging it would have been if they had to procure their own
righteousness…
- How could they pay the penalty of their sin?
- What offering could they make to atone?
- No—it was a promise of righteousness and salvation that the LORD
would provide for them.

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 - It is not salvation by law keeping, but rather law keeping in
view of the coming salvation—because it is near.
- Of course the bride wants to be ready when her prince
comes for her.
- This is what God tells those who were waiting for His
promise to do—Keep justice and do righteousness.

2. So what did this keeping justice and doing righteousness entail?

a. It simply means that you do what is right—as one hungering after
righteousness would do…
- Justice speaks of right principles of life and righteousness speaks of the
application of those principles.
- It is the same thing that Isaiah called for in Isaiah 55 when he said:
- Isa 55:6-7: “Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him
while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous
man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy
on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”

- John the Baptist told the one who had two tunics to give one to the person
had none…
- and he told the tax collectors not to collect more than they ought.
- and he told the soldiers to be content with their wages, and not to
intimidate anyone or falsely accuse.
- It was not real complicated stuff!
- It is the way a person lives when he believes that God is
coming with righteousness and salvation!
- Or in our day, it is the way a person lives when he believes that
God has come with salvation and righteousness and he turns to
receive it.
- Repentance is always involved in looking to God for His
salvation.

b. Isaiah restates what it means to “keep justice and do righteousness” in verse 2.

- He says that one who does this is the one…
- Isa 56:2: Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And keeps his hand from
doing any evil."

1) The Sabbath is used here to speak of their entire worship of God!

a) When you keep that Sabbath, you show that you are willing to
organise your life around the worship of God.

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 - Keeping it is a sign that you acknowledge the true God as your
creator and redeemer.
- You look back to remember His work of creation and His work
of redemption…
- God established worship every seventh day from the
beginning because He completed His work of creation on
that day…
- And He sanctified the day for us to keep the day holy
for Him, praising Him for His work.
- And then when He redeemed His people out of Egypt,
- He commanded them to keep it also because of His
redemption.
- And then when Jesus came, He told us to keep it,
- still because of creation, but now because Jesus redeemed
us and rose on the first day of the week into the kingdom of
righteousness that He procured…
- And now we gather to worship in His name, trusting in
the work that He did to make us righteous…
- And we come together to thank God and to praise Him
for this new creation, this kingdom of righteousness.

b) Those who are looking to God for this salvation do not defile the
Sabbath.
- You defile it by lack of interest in what God has done—you’d
rather play games or work or something…
- You defile it by hypocrisy—when you outwardly keep it but
your heart is not in it.
- You defile it by idolatry—when you try to approach God in
your own way instead of in the way He has commanded.
- You defile it when you worship other gods and then try to
come and worship Him…
- You see how “not defiling the Sabbath” is used to speak of a right
relationship with God—

2) And keeping your hand from doing evil refers to your daily walk of
obedience unto the Lord…how you treat your neighbour…
- That you honour your parents and love your children,
- That you do not harm your neighbour or steal from him, but rather
serve him and give to him in his need.

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 - That you are true to your spouse and do nothing to tear apart what God
has joined together.
- That you are honest and seek the blessing of others, and rejoice when
they prosper instead of being filled with envy and greed.

TRANS> These are the things the LORD tells His people to do while they wait for His
coming righteousness and salvation in Christ.
- Not that they do them perfectly—
- That is why righteousness is being provided—but they still do these things.

C. And this message has application to us who live after the coming of Jesus Christ.
1. We are in a position of greater advantage.
- Now God’s righteousness has actually been accomplished and we have seen
what He had done—
- Jesus Christ has appeared in the world,
- And we are not longer waiting for a salvation and righteousness that is
coming…
- We have a salvation and righteousness that has been fully
accomplished to come to.

2. But the message is still essentially the same.

- If you are among those who are truly looking to God for this righteousness
and salvation that Jesus has procured for His church,
- You will keep justice and do righteousness…
- You will keep from the defiling the Sabbath and keep your hand from
doing evil.
- That is what everyone does who turns to the Lord for salvation.

- Did Jesus not tell us this again and again?

- Luke 9:23-26: Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. "For
whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My
sake will save it. "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world,
and is himself destroyed or lost? "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My
words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own
glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
- This is just what you do when you come to Him for salvation.
- You start living in His kingdom because you seek first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness.

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TRANS> And when you are someone who does this, there is a promise given to you.
- And that is the second thing I want you to see from our text today…

II. Secondly, there is a blessing promised to you if you will keep this command.
A. The blessing is very simply stated in verse 2…
1. It simply says, “Blessed is the man who does this…”
- Does what?
- What we saw in verse 1…
- “Keeps justice and does righteousness.”

- And then the verse goes in the Hebrew style and repeats the matter again…
- I’ll start from the beginning of verse 2 again
- Isa 56:2: “Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays
hold on it”
- Then it goes on to repeat the initial command of verse 1 with the
words we already considered:
- “Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from
doing any evil.”

2. What does it mean to be blessed?

a. It means everything! And I really mean that.
- What God blesses cannot be cursed.
- He is the Almighty God who made heaven earth and He it not given to
half measures.
- What He blesses is blessed—not two ways about it!
- He is the self-existing One whose purpose cannot be thwarted—
not in the least degree.

- This means that if He pronounces that you are blessed,

- You are—most absolutely.
- Your whole future is one of certain happiness and peace—shalom.
- Your whole life is enveloped in absolute blessing.

- I mentioned to you last week that we fear God because He is the only one
who is able to ultimately bless or ultimately curse.
- If He blesses you, you are blessed indeed.

b. There are multiple of aspects to His blessing.

1) In the first place, it means that you are forgiven.

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 - As long as you remain in your sin, there is no blessing for you.
- Think about it.
- If you have offenses that have not been pardoned, there is no
hope for you!
- This pardon comes through the offering of Jesus Christ for our
transgressioins.

2) And not only that, but his blessing also means that you are righteous…
- Not just pardoned, but also made righteous which is better!
- If you were only pardoned, you would have no sin on your account
which would be quite wonderful,
- but when you are righteous, then it is as if you have fulfilled all
that is required of you.

- This is the righteousness that Jesus procured for the whole church,
for all His elect.
- It is a kingdom that God has already declared to be righteous
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ…
- And when you repent and enter it by faith, you obtain this
righteousness as one who has done all that God requires to
obtain His reward.

3) And that brings us to a third aspect of the blessedness we have…

- That we have the reward of an everlasting inheritance with Christ.
- That is what He obtained by His labours—He obtained it for the
entire kingdom!
- And what an inheritance it is!
- It is an inheritance in God’s house where we will behold His
beauty and glory and majesty forever and ever.
- We will be delighted and awed by Him forever and we will
see the glory that Christ had with Him from all eternity.

4) And closely related to this, the curse will be completely removed from us.
- Our mortal bodies will be made immortal,
- There will be no more sickness, nor more headaches, no more
broken things, no more suffering of any kind, no more shortages.
- Only the fullness of blessing as only God can give it.

5) But that is still not all of the blessedness that we shall have—

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 - We are also given the promise that we will be changed by the power of
God’s Spirit so that we will become like Christ.
- If we were like we are now—with our sin and all that—it would
not be a great blessing to be in glory with Christ.
- We would be ashamed and we would not fit or belong there
because we would ruin the place…
- We would not even have the ability to appreciate it…
- And the LORD would be constrained to exclude us.

- But we will be totally transformed.

- Already, when we come to Him, He sends His Spirit and gives us a
love for His law,
- that is why we keep justice and do righteousness…
- but when He brings us into glory, we will be made like Him so
that we will love as He loves,
- with a love so deep that we would go to the cross for our
brothers and sisters and bear the curse for them if we
could…
- for them and for the glory of our heavenly Father.

- I can’t wait to have such love!

- How much good we will do for each other!

B. But what about this condition?

1. It says that we are blessed if we keep justice and do righteousness…
- if we keep from defiling the Sabbath and keep our hand from doing any evil.
- Does this not exclude us all?
- Who among us can claim that we live up to this high standard?
- Did Solomon not say,
- Proverbs 20:9 Who can say, "I have made my heart clean, I am pure from
my sin"?
- In asking that, he doesn’t expect anyone to raise his hand and say,
“I have!”

2. I hope that I have already made this clear, but just to make sure I want to say it
again!
a. The whole reason for keeping justice and doing righteousness—
- is because we are looking to the righteousness that God provides.

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 - In Isaiah’s day, it was because they were looking to this righteousness
that God had promised to send…
- In our day, it is because we are resting in the salvation and
righteousness that God has provided.

b. It is a sure mark that you are looking to God for this salvation and
righteousness when you keep justice and do righteousness.
1) As soon as you realise that God is bringing salvation and righteousness,
- And as soon as you come to see your need of it and to want it,
- You begin to follow the LORD.
- Not under any pretence that you will somehow obtain God’s favour by
doing righteousness and keeping justice…
- but as one who is seeking what God has promised.

2) Jesus was very clear that the one who loves Him will keep His
commandments…
- He says that if anyone would come to Him, He must leave all to
follow.

- If you have not repented of your sin, you have never come to Him.
- John says that you are liar if you say that you know Him but do not
keep His commandments.

- In 1 Cor 6:9, Paul says:

- 1 Cor 6:9-11: Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor
covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but
you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God.

- It is impossible to have true faith that does not produce works.

- There is no such thing. Faith without works is dead.
- Faith is a busy, active, mighty thing, and it cannot help but
produce good works.
- The good works it produces do not save us,
- but they demonstrate that we are among those who are
saved—looking to Christ.
- Therefore, Isaiah rightly pronounces blessing on the one who
keeps justice and does righteousness.

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TRANS> But how can you be sure that God will accept you if you repent?
- This brings us to the third thing I want you to see…

III. Third, Isaiah shows that absolutely no one who keeps justice and does
righteousness will be excluded—no one!
- He demonstrates this in a very powerful way.
- He demonstrates it by showing that even those who were rejected from the
sanctuary under the stipulations of the Old Covenant will be fully accepted if
they repent—keep justice and do righteousness—keep from defiling the
Sabbath and keep their hands from doing any evil…
- The coming salvation is so powerful that no one who repents will be rejected!

A. He speaks of two sorts of rejected persons that will be fully accepted.

1. These two represent all rejected persons…
a. Both are mentioned in verse 3:
- Isaiah 56:3: “Do not let the son of the foreigner Who has joined himself to the
LORD Speak, saying, "The LORD has utterly separated me from His people"; Nor
let the eunuch say, "Here I am, a dry tree."”
- Then the Eunuch is spoken about in verse 4-5 and the foreigner in
verses 6-7.

b. Before we look at what it says about their acceptance, consider what each of
them represents.
1) The Eunuch represents all those who were excluded from the sanctuary in
the Old Testament because of some defect.
- Defects of any kind afflict mankind because of the curse that is upon
the whole human race.
- Those who had the marks of the curse upon their bodies were not
permitted to enter the sanctuary.
- This included lepers, those with a flow of blood.
- As far as the priesthood, Lev 21:17-20 says:
- Lev 21:17-20: "Speak to Aaron, saying: ‘No man of your
descendants in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may
approach to offer the bread of his God. ‘For any man who has a
defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred
face or any limb too long, ‘a man who has a broken foot or broken
hand, ‘or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his
eye, or eczema or scab, or is a eunuch.

- Also, those who had contact with the dead (clearly connected with
the curse) or with a woman during her monthly cycle (also brought

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 on women through the curse) were not permitted to worship for a
time.

- The exclusion of these persons from the sanctuary is very instructive.

- It is not just meanness—but it is a testimony to us that God is holy
and cannot dwell with that which is cursed.
- This is very good news because it means that where He is, the
curse will be completely abolished.
- That is what was being portrayed in the Old Testament.

- And when Jesus came we were shown this in another way…

- In that wherever He was physically present on earth—wherever
He went,
- there were no lepers that remained lepers…
- no blind that remained blind…
- no dead that remained dead…
- none with a flow of blood that continued to bleed.
- The curse and the presence of Jesus do not mix.
- Even when Jesus Himself was cursed, He death could not
stay with Him but was abolished and turned into life
eternal.

TRANS> So the eunuchs represent all those who were excluded because the
curse of God was visible upon them.

2) And then the foreigner is mentioned—one who was also excluded from
OT worship.
- This is not talking about the proselyte, for proselytes were accepted
under the Old Covenant when they were circumcised, agreeing to keep
the law of God.
- But this is talking about the nations who did not have access to the
temple in Jerusalem.
- It includes people from all the nations of the earth.
- The only way they could gain acceptance was to leave their
own nation and become a part of Israel.

c. The whole purpose of these exclusions in the Old Testament was to teach that
God is holy.
- It was to make it clear that all mankind is cut off from Him by our sin.
- As sinners, we are excluded from His presence.

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 - Even those of Israel who were allowed to enter the sanctuary were only
able to do so after a whole array of cleansing rituals had been performed…
- They had to go through cleansing rituals and bring sacrifices to atone
for their sin and burnt offerings to represent the total devotion that they
did not have.
- And even with all of this, the people at large were never permitted into
the holy place—only the priests,
- and even they were not allowed in the most holy place—
- only once a year was the high priest allowed to enter and then
only with a blood sacrifice for himself and for the people.

- God was continually making it very clear that no one was worthy to come
before Him.
- He was showing them their desperate need of the salvation and
righteousness that He alone could provide.
- They were excluded from Him unless He provided the
righteousness and salvation that only Jesus could obtain by the
cross.

TRANS> But look!

2. The LORD explains in our text that even the rejects will be accepted through the
salvation and righteousness that He will provide!
- It will be so powerful and so fruitful that even these rejects will be fully
accepted!
- Such is the accomplishment of the blessed Jesus when He made His soul
an offering for sin.

- You can see here that the very blessedness promised in verse 2 belongs to
both the Eunuch and the foreigner!
- None who repent will be rejected!

a. Look at what the Lord says to the eunuchs in verses 3-5…

1) “Let not the eunuch say, ‘Here I am a dry tree.’”
- The Israelites lived very much in light of the promise of God to bless
them in the future…
- They very much wanted to continue as a nation in order that they
might have a posterity to receive God’s salvation when it came.
- But the eunuch had no descendents to receive the blessing when it
came.

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 - Their name and their inheritance would be cut off because they had
no children.
- So they said, “Here am I, a dry tree…”
- But Lord says, “Don’t say that.”

2) If you think that you are cut off from God’s blessing, you will not serve
Him, you will not repent and seek His salvation…
- See how the LORD encourages the eunuchs in verse 4:
- Isa 56:4: For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep My
Sabbaths, And choose what pleases Me, And hold fast My covenant…

- He encourages them to do the same things that He told everyone to do

in verse 1—everyone who was waiting for His salvation.
- The eunuchs were to do the same thing because the coming
salvation was for them just as much as for those who could enter
the temple.

3) In verse 5, the Lord assures them that their being eunuchs does not prevent
them in the least from receiving His blessing!
- Isa 56:5: Even to them [the eunuchs] I will give in My house And within My
walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give
them an everlasting name That shall not be cut off.

- Though they did not have the blessing of having sons and daughters in
God’s house,
- They would have something even better!
- They would personally have a place in God’s house—right in
His own family—right in His own household!

- With these words, God makes it clear to all the people of old that it
is not just their children that are blessed when Christ comes…
- His blessing will extend even to those who have long since
died.
- They will be given an everlasting inheritance even though they
were long gone before God’s salvation and righteousness came
to earth.
- They too will be brought into Christ’s righteous kingdom!

- For the eunuchs who look to Him—for them in particular…

- Though they be excluded from the earthly tabernacle which is
but a shadow,

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 - the coming righteousness will be so powerful that it will
bring them into the true, eternal house of God…
- They will never be cut off!
- How great is God’s salvation!

b. And now look at what the Lord says to the foreigners:

1) It is a little different because He speaks to them as those whose sons will
come into the church under the New Covenant.
- He spoke the eunuchs as those who were seeking him under the Old
Covenant,
- but He speaks to the foreigners as those whose sons will come
under the New Covenant.

- In other words, He speaks of the inclusion of the nations under the

gospel when Jesus comes…
- That they, who were largely excluded now,
- will be brought into God’s house when His salvation and
righteousness comes to the earth through Jesus.

2) First, He identifies which foreigners:

- Isa 56:6: "Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to
serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants—Everyone
who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant—
- You see that it is the foreigners who come to Him to serve Him
and to love Him.
- They leave their idols and they come to be the servants of God.
- They no longer defile the Sabbath, but call upon the LORD in
the worship that He has appointed—
- And they fully embrace His covenant…
- These are the foreigners that are in view!

3) And what is the blessing that they will receive?

- It is stated in verse 7
- Isa 56:7: Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them
joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of
prayer for all nations."

- They will obtain the salvation and righteousness that God will bring
through Christ!

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 - They will come to God’s holy mountain to learn of Him—to learn
of His salvation and His ways…as described in Isaiah 2.

- God will make them joyful in His house of prayer—

- It will become a house of prayer for all nations!
- It wasn’t yet in Isaiah’s day—you had to become part of Israel
or you were excluded…
- But when Christ comes, the Gentiles will not be excluded.
- God’s house will be for them!
- Their worship will be accepted by Him, not because they
are worthy, but because it will be accepted through Christ.
- The language of the Old Testament is used to refer to
this worship, not because these will still be used,
- but because they represent the sacrifice of praise that
we bring to the Lord in the New Covenant.

- The import of the message is that they will be fully accepted in

God’s house along with Israel…
- The very nature of the house will be changed so that it will
no longer be local,
- but will be a worldwide house of prayer for all nations,
united not in a building made with man’s hands,
- but united in Jesus Christ, the only Saviour.
- They will be welcomed because of Him.

3. This great ingathering of the nations to the Lord is certain to occur… because God
Himself will do it…
- Verse 8 says:
- Isa 56:8: The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, "Yet I will
gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him."

- What a glorious kingdom when God brings all together in Christ!

- He has promised to gather the outcasts of Israel—for they were all
outcasts, cut off from the land as the Canaanites before them…
- Yet the Lord will gather them in His coming salvation…
- And just as He gathers them who were cut off, so He will gather the
nations who had always been cut off!

- Nobody who comes to the LORD to serve Him in Christ will be excluded!

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 - Not eunuchs or any others who were excluded from the sanctuary…
- Not foreigners who were excluded from the sanctuary…
- And not the outcasts of Israel who were cut off from the sanctuary.
- Anyone, at any time, who comes to the LORD, repenting of his sins,
because of God’s salvation in Christ, will be welcomed into His house
forever.
- There is forgiveness with God so that He may be feared—so that He
may be served with joyfulness.

B. So what does this mean to you?

- It means that you can be absolutely sure of God’s acceptance through Christ—
through the salvation and the righteousness that God brought through Him!
- It doesn’t matter what you may have done!
- All are unworthy, all are rejects, all are cursed but for the righteousness an
salvation that God brought to earth through Jesus.

- Are you a wicked and insolent man? even a murderer?

- So was Paul, yet God accepted him when he repented.

- Are you a pervert? A thief? A drunkard? A child molester? A sodomite?

- So were many of the Corinthians, but they were accepted when they repented
and turned to God’s salvation in Christ…
- Remember what we saw in 1 Cor 6:9-11?
- 1 Cor 6:9-11: Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified,
but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our
God.
- It is now past tense because they came to the Lord and He accepted them.

- Do not doubt of your acceptance…

- The blood of Jesus Christ cannot fail—He is the Son of God…
- No matter how great your sin, He is able to cover it.
- If you will turn to Him to serve Him, the blessing of God will be yours!
- Yours fully!
- Yours forever!

Conclusion.
- Let us give thanks to the Lord!
- There is salvation for rejects like us!

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